Sun has given its “SunTone” mark of approval to 13 software products. The Suntone seal of approval is Sun’s indication that they believe the application meets performance, security and availability standards for use by ASPs.

The SunTone program is a collaborative initiative to define and audit service provider infrastructure, operational practices, hardware, software and all round service capabilities.

Companies applications are tested for 24x7 availability in a Unix environment, including levels of support services.

“Sun is taking the position of being a trusted advisor within the ASP market,” Robert Yauckoes, telco business development manager for Sun Microsystems Middle East region told ACN.

“We have a stable platform but customers demand a full turnkey solution. What SunTone is saying is that a service provider can service the customer the Sun way – we have a checklist of things they must do in order to be SunTone, and to make sure the application level is there, we have a group of ISVs that are writing to certain criteria and open standards.”